Cole’s legs crunched into the first rocky step, bending to absorb the impact. Of course, without the aid of Runic Strength, they most definitely would have shattered on impact. Magic truly was an incredible thing.
He straightened, superhuman legs propelling him forward once more. As he plummeted down to another level of the stratified hill, the temperature began to increase once more. It wasn’t anywhere near unbearable. With the effect of Tamika’s thermal resistance spell, he’d felt like a number of fans were blowing cool air on his skin. Now that he had gone lower, it was as if they were blowing slightly warm air. It wasn’t anything to be too concerned about.
‘For now anyway…’ he thought. Hopefully it would stop him from burning up while he was trying to shut the Gate. He’d be heavily relying on the large distraction Percival and Godrick had turned themselves into to divert the attention of the monsters that would otherwise kill him in an instant. Of course, any that did notice him would hopefully be dealt with by Bellisaire, whose phantom arrows had already proven to be incredibly effective against the Infernal foes. Aside from the Devil of course, but with any luck it was gone for good. Holy magic was incredibly effective against the Infernal species. That was the whole reason he was even trying this crazy plan in the first place. If he’d just been a standard [Runic Knight], Cole would probably a smoking corpse, killed by the Koboldevil, or stewing around in the belly of the Drake.
As he descended another level, the temperature rose even more. A few monsters too, rose to meet him, clawing and flapping their way up the rocky outcroppings. While the path of least resistance was to just go around the bottom, it seemed that these intrepid monsters aimed to fight their way up, perhaps emboldened by the sight of an easy kill. They didn’t even get close to him. Five phantom arrows, almost invisible, flew over Cole’s head one by one, silently dropping the Infernal creatures. They didn’t even realise what had happened, one second they were snarling at him, licking their ‘lips’ at the thought of ripping him to shreds. The next, their empty bodies fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, and Cole was free to move forward.
A sudden rumbling caused him to look down and away from the gate, watching the armoured brothers stand firm against an ever-growing horde. Smoke and light, both white in hue, continued to blanket and pierce the Infernals every second. But it wasn’t sustainable. Godrick was now focusing on pure defence, carefully cultivating a barrier of smoke around them that prevented any creature from getting too close. Percival was now wholly responsible for the offense, striking creatures down with light. But the biggest monsters were continually replaced by even bigger ones, sooner or later they’d have to pull out. Venture would cease to be independent, becoming the newest addition to the Vestrian Empire’s borders.
Cole descended once more, feeling the heat continue to rise. He was now sweating profusely, like he was back at the top of the hill again. He didn’t even know if Tamika’s spell would be sufficient to keep him alive. There was still a decent way to go to the Gate. He didn’t have time to worry about it however. More monsters were scaling up towards him.
Phantom arrows met some of the foes, however this time Cole himself had to get involved. Two quick Runic Blasts sent a number of Kobolds tumbling down, slamming into the hard dirt of the valley. If it hadn’t been so loud, sounds of roaring beasts and hissing monsters filling his ears, the crunch of their death would have been audible.
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He turned his head, craning his neck to look back up the steep hill. If something happened to him now, there was no chance they’d be able to help him. Not before he was torn to shreds by the Infernal horde.
The young man descended another level with only one to go, heat now scorching his skin. It felt like he was sunburned all over, and he was sure that if he stayed there long enough, his skin would begin to blister red. Cole didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Tamika’s spell failed at this point, but even then, it wouldn’t be enough.
What could he do? How was he going to make it to the Gate? He had no more options, no more favours to call in. There was no use trying to get the attention of Godrick, Percival, or even Strike Force Talos. His pitiful cries for help would be drowned out in the heat of battle, and his short second life would come to an end.
‘There is one option…’ whispered a voice in the back corner of his brain.
What? What was it talking about?
Then Cole remembered.
He dove within himself, returning to the familiar domain of his soul. There, sure enough, lay his one option. A golden rune, floating in its own new space.
Hallowed Scale.
He’d looted, or done something to the Infernal Drake that had given him this rune. Cole remembered the red light becoming golden, divine energy wresting power from the Infernal and turning it into its own. Now it was his. The only question was, could it help him in this moment?
There was only one way to find out.
He raised his arm, breathing hard not only from the extreme heat, but also the sheer stress bearing down on him. If this didn’t work, all he could do was turn back, tail between his legs, and scale the cliff to inform Strike Force Talos that they’d brought him here for nothing.
‘No’ he thought, clenching his outstretched fist, ‘No way in hell’.
A finger pointed out, and Cole began to carve the Hallowed Scale rune. It was by far the most complicated rune he’d tried to use, jagged lines joining with one another in strange patterns. They began to interlink, creating the impression of scales in the air. He knew he’d never be able to trace this rune in the heat of battle, it was far too time consuming to do so. As it neared completion, Cole could also see a faint sheen of red woven throughout the rune, no doubt the Infernal influence. He’d wrested this power from a great foe, made it his own, but you couldn’t completely erase a rune’s roots. Just like a word had meaning beyond what it literally meant, it was the same with rune. The history of a word, of a rune, shaped what it meant in that day.
The rune was complete.
Golden threads of light shot out at him, spriralling their way up his arm. When they came to his shoulder, they split off, wrapping both around his neck, across his torso, and down to his legs. As they covered his body, Cole could feel the difference with the extreme heat. It didn’t vanish, like it initially had with Tamika’s spell. Instead, he just didn’t notice it. It was like he’d grown up in that level of heat, making it feel normal.
As the golden threads completed the golden network across his body, the young man watched as golden-red scale marking appeared on his skin. They weren’t real, tangible things, instead appearing as tattoo like symbols, flat instead of raised, and shot through with the golden lines. As he pressed his finger into the skin on the back of his hand, the glow intensified. It seemed like they’d protect against physical damage also.
Cole began running towards the gate, ignoring what would be an otherwise embarrassing experience as his clothes disintegrated, burned into floating black pieces by the extreme levels of heat. The spears finally reached their limit, becoming charred pieces of fragile wood that dropped to the ground as the enchanted holder vanished.
Suddenly, a huge white cloud of smoke billowed out from over where Godrick and Percival were. He almost turned tail and ran away as it rushed towards him. Cole had seen that smoke turn creatures that were native to the Infernal dimension into dust. How would he be able to survive?
He closed his eyes as the smoke hit him, praying to whatever gods existed in this world that he’d make it through unscathed. Soon he realised he couldn’t feel anything. The young man opened his eyes to see that he’d made it through, although the marking on his body were shining. Godrick’s huge defensive spray had proven a good test of his new rune’s abilities.
He was now almost side by side with the Surging Gate, luckily granted a brief window of calm by the destructive smoke. But he knew that momentary calm would soon end at the rate that the hellish portal had been churning out creatures.
Cole kept moving forward.
Now or never.